BOSTON — Brad Marchand has always been one of the more emotional players on the Bruins, for good and bad. He chirps opponents and teammates, he hits, he prods for a reaction.

Yet aside from a couple headshakes on the bench and a glance to the rafters, if as asking the hockey gods why, Marchand had a fairly muted reaction after twice missing an open net against the Red Wings on Thursday night. Marchand was being fitted for goat horns until the Bruins won Game 4 in overtime, giving them a 3-1 lead into Saturday afternoon's Game 5 at TD Garden.

Marchand went wide right in the first period when Jonas Gustavsson came out of the net, shooting through the crease. In the third, Marchand was all alone to the right of the post when Torey Krug forced Gustavsson to react. Marchand shot well high and to the left, allowing the Red Wings to reach overtime.

"Looking at it after the game, I think if I had 10 more chances I don't think I could miss if I tried, from that spot on the second one anyway," Marchand said. "But you've got to put it behind you. Those things happen in hockey. If you dwell on it too much, it's going to affect your game."

After the game, Marchand said he gave Jarome Iginla a kiss after Iginla scored the winner at 13:32 of the extra session.

A few years ago, the 25-year-old Marchand might have reacted differently during the game. He spoke with Iginla, a 560-goal scorer, about missing chances.

"It would've been tough [as a younger player]," Marchand said Saturday. "The last few years, there's been a lot of good leadership and guys you can learn from. Especially when you see a lot of the top guys missing good opportunities, you see how they react and they're not coming off breaking their stick and snapping -- they're focused on the next opportunity. Talking to Iggy after the game, just how many opportunities good goal scorers miss every year. You feel like you have sure goals, and then you have goals where you pick those small little pockets. Hearing that from one of the best goal scorers ever, it's relieving and you can learn a lot from guys like that."

The Bruins gave Marchand some friendly jabs afterwards, a reflection of the fact that they ultimately won the game despite his flubs.

"There’s no doubt the guys are joking about it," coach Claude Julien said Friday. "He is even more relaxed about it today. Two open nets and those are the things that are going to happen. But at the end of the day, when you can win those games it makes it a lot easier. Had it been the other way around I’m sure a lot of people would have lacked some sleep last night. But we are able to laugh about it and it’s just part of the game. It happens and it’s not the first time that that has happened and it won’t be the last time."

Some other notes before the Bruins try to eliminate the Red Wings in Game 5:

- Detroit is making some lineup changes. Winger Daniel Alfredsson returns after missing two games with a back injury, while defenseman Xavier Ouellet comes in on the back end. Todd Bertuzzi and Jakub Kindl are out of the lineup, respectively.

Alfredsson missed the two games in Detroit, both Red Wing losses. The 40-year-old was ineffective in the first two games of the series.

"The player's got to be healthy enough to skate," coach Mike Babcock said. "We talk about leadership, and saying the right things is nice, but playing right is important. If you can't skate, you can't play. Any of these back injuries where you get the shooting pain down your leg you can't skate. When you're a little bit concerned and can't get involved, it hurts. Alfie skated great yesterday in practice. It's as good as he skated in a long time, so we put him in there."

The Bruins have taken advantage of the Red Wings' third defensive pair of Kindl and Brian Lashoff, and Babcock has worked to keep the two apart, especially in road games when the Bruins have the last change. Babcock isn't sure what will happen, but he hopes a switch to Ouellet, a 20-year-old making his Stanley Cup playoff debut, will help out his desperate team.

"I just like that he's a good player and we needed a change on the back," Babcock said of Ouellet. "To be honest, we haven't seen him enough to know. He's been better when he's been with us than when he's been in the American League. He's a real smart player, we've liked him when he's been up. So we're making the change because we felt we needed to make a change."

He began skating April 19 and has been slowly ramping up since, taking light contact Friday.

- Julien didn't offer much of an update on depth defenseman Corey Potter, who injured his right shoulder during Friday's optional practice. Potter was kicking his legs in agony after battling with Paille during a drill along the boards.

"No update. He fell awkwardly and hurt himself," Julien said. "I haven't heard the final details on his situation yet. I'm focusing on the guys for our team tonight."